December 15, 2020 - The Elf on the Shelf® and Elf Pets® have fast become holiday mainstays, appearing in a wide variety of popular books, toys, and videos, and loved by children of all ages all around the world. Audio description is an added soundtrack that describes visual images for the benefit of people who are blind or have low vision.

This year, the American Council of the Blind (ACB), VITAC, and The Lumistella Company are proud to offer a special radio broadcast of the animated holiday special, “Elf Pets: A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale,” on ACB Radio to make…

Get Up & Get Moving: A Call for Leveraging Technology to Improve Health and Wellness

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the global challenges that technology can experience when pushed to the limits. This reality check has not only been disproportionately burdensome for individuals who are blind and visually impaired, but it has also exposed the pre-existing barriers that have harmed the physical, social, and psychological well-being within this community over the years. Join the American Council of the Blind for an empowering panel on how technology can…

In August, ACB sent the letter below to Congressional leaders opposing an waivers or exemptions to the ADA as part of pandemic relief policy measures, specifically those referenced in the SAFE TO WORK Act (S. 4317). These measures are under consideration once again as Congress debates another stimulus package. As we reiterate our opposition to any waivers or exemptions that would undermine the civil rights guaranteed by the ADA, ACB urges all of our friends to communicate your opposition to any ADA waivers and exemptions as part of COVID stimulus relief by contacting your members of…

Many of you, particularly those who rely heavily on the ACB e-mail lists, have noticed that their usability has been steadily slipping over the past year. Even before this time, we ran into sporadic situations where some users would suddenly stop receiving messages even though they were subscribed to the list.

We conducted an investigation as to the nature of the problems we’d been experiencing and what it boiled down to, at first, is that we had to enforce some pretty tight restrictions on ACB’s Server infrastructure to reduce and even eliminate the spam we were receiving. That…

Cindy Hollis Receives Award from VisionServe Alliance

Recently, ACB Membership Services Coordinator Cindy Hollis, received the Roxann Mayros Organizational Champion Award from VisionServe Alliance for her work with the ACB Community. This award was established to honor senior leadership members of member-driven organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary service to the field. View Cindy’s acceptance of the award and her nomination from ACB President Dan Spoone by visiting:…

December 3, 2020 – Indianapolis, IN – The ability to vote privately and independently is a fundamental right and an essential component of democracy in the United States. However, in Indiana, these rights are not guaranteed to all voters.

In fact, Indiana has one of the most restrictive absentee voting systems in the country for blind voters because it only permits them to vote at home by appointment with a “traveling board” of elections officials.  Hoosier voters who are blind or have low vision could easily vote privately and independently at home using…

Sight Tech Global is a first-of-its-kind global conference dedicated to advanced technology and the experts focused on improving the lives of the blind and visually impaired. Registration for this event is free! ACB is excited to take part in this conference on December 3rd at 11:30am Eastern, where we will introduce our health and wellness campaign for 2021, “Get Up and Get Moving”.

Register for our session by visiting:…

ACB Family Table

On behalf of all of us at The American Council of the Blind, we want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. This past year has been quite transformative for so many of us throughout the ACB family. Indeed, this Thanksgiving for many will be like none other before in our history. And in the distance that separates us all, please know we are still connected by our community that has thrived since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That feeling of isolation is no stranger to anyone who has experience blindness. Knowing this well, we are acutely aware of…

Happy Holidays! The 9th Annual ACB Radio Holiday Auction is just around the corner. This year’s auction will be filled with lots of wonderful gifts for the holidays. We will be showcasing homemade delicious food items, original crafts, jewelry, the latest technology and beautiful quilts. To view our list of auction items visit: https://acb.org/2020-holiday-auction-list. The auction will be on Sunday, November 29 at 6:00pm EST and there will be two days of the Sneak a Peak Appetizer Auction on Friday, November 27 and…

Join Us for Friendsgiving

On this Thanksgiving 2020, you are not alone. Throughout the day, from 11am-9pm ET (8am-6pm PT/6am-4pm HT) friends will be on-hand to welcome you in to our community where love, friendship, and support abound. Whether for 10 minutes or 10 hours, for someone to laugh with or cry with, please join us! Each hour we have a new facilitator and host ready to greet you. No matter the conversation of the hour, you’ll know you’ll be joining a community of friends. To receive our weekly schedule of community events with information on how to…